January 8, 2001By Bill RothOur buddy Doug Doughty, the respected and talented sportswriter for The Roanoke Times, annually compiles a list of Virginia's college football prospects. Over the years, Doughty has been remarkably accurate in ranking potential recruits and his Christmas Day list usually makes its way on the bulletin board or refrigerator of Virginia Tech fans everywhere. We even invite Doug to participate in the annual Hokie Hotline Recruiting Special, with Tech coach Frank Beamer every February - and Doug always comes through with nuggets of information and spicy commentary.

If you follow it closely, you know that Tech is having a record-setting year in its in-state recruiting, having already received verbal commitments from six of the top 12 prospects on Doughty's list, including three of the top five.

But without question, Virginia Tech's No. 1 recruiting target in January of 2001 is the same young man who topped the Hokies' list in January of 1998. Regardless of how many players from this year's Roanoke Times' top 25 Tech eventually signs, the Hokies' recruiting focus in the next week is on a young man who was on the list three years ago.